The story that broke my heart and left me in tears

Title says it all, I didn't realise I was so connected to the characters ahh.

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So disappointed with ending

Great series enjoyed all of the books narration was excellent all the way through very tense last book until the end what a rubbish ending so disappointing

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The Least Enjoyable of the Series

This is also my least favourite book out of a series I’m already really on the fence about.
I do like Manning a lot as an author. And it is a bit nonsensical for me to say -after listening to every book in the series so far- that I’m not a big far of the story, but there it is.

There is a lot to like, but I’m afraid I really an not a fan of the infuriatingly stubborn, cocky (yet falsely humble) child prodigy/boy-man, lead character. And my dislike only got much worse in this latest book.

I do like Manning as a writer, just not this series. I think it’s mainly the main character and that his female characters are all one type (whether hero, villain, or somewhere in between).

There are great points to the series: mainly that it’s a series, so you know what you’re getting. Also - with the books being long - they are great value for money.

Another thing that appealed to me is that - while the series included the typical theme of war and violence - we aren’t inundated with page after page of sieges and war talk, something many fantasy novels get wrong. There is a lot else to going on, which includes emotions, psychology, visual descriptions that make the reading stand out above other male fantasy authors.

I also love that Mannings characters are three dimensional with both perfection and flaws in the mix and surprises in character development. (No Mary Janing here!…. Exxxxxcept for the main character Will of course. His development feels like an insincere attempt at adding annoying, flawed attributes to try and make him seem humble and believable/ likeable.)

Also I love that Manning is clearly a lover of woman. (He feels respectful, to the point that I feel like the author himself must be a great guy and was raised by good people.) HOWEVER… I hate how all the women have strong dominatrice attributes - if not that, nymphomania as well. (Think Yennifer of Vengaberg).

While sex isn’t gratuitous and over-the-top by any means, it makes me feel kind of grossed out listening to. Punishment and weirdly misplaced carnal urges are more or less the norm when sex or sexual topics occur.

This only serves to remind me that the protagonist is too young for me to see him as the worldly-beyond-his-years action hero the author would like us to see him as.

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2 people found this helpful

unsatisfying ending to a great series.

as the other reviews mention I thought the ending was poor. the narrator seemed to change his voice from the other books too. pity first 4 books were brilliant. I'd still recommend reading it to finish the story if you haven't already

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Story

I did not like the ending for William, I think he deserve more than what he got.
The reader kept on saying the names wrong, which was annoying.

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Actually really enjoyed it

Was a little apprehensive after reading some of the other reviews, but really enjoyed it all in all. The narrator was great as always and looking forward to the new series.

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Fantastic series

Reading other reviews, there is a lot of angst about the ending.

By contrast, I found it in keeping with the rest of the series and more satisfying than most books where everything is neatly sewn up. Everyone getting what they deserve and all problems being resolved is just not something that happens in the real world and it doesn't happen here.

But there were no true surprises in that. Characters that made bad decisions regularly didn't miraculously become perfect for the end. Actions had consequences and the emotions of the MC were very believable.

highly recommended

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A change in tone

Unlike a lot of other reviews, I feel like the turn to the tragic was thoroughly foreshadowed, and the bad decisions at the end were due to previously exhibited character flaws and characters making awful decisions when faced with the literal end of the world. The ending is in-theme, but very definitely not the same tone.

There has been a theme of “hard decisions”, self control and the morality of killing throughout the novels, and this is an exploration of what happens when that hits reality at the global power level. I did kind of wonder if something like this was going to happen.

That said, given the previous tone of the series I expected things to work out better than they did. Things felt a bit rushed, and it felt like there was some shoe horning the narrative to end at a point where apparently it ties in with a previous series.

But honestly I prefer this to the kind of extended horrific break down that the non rushed version would be. If we absolutely have to have this sort of ending to an otherwise up beat series.

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1 person found this helpful

Great series didn't want it to stop.

Great characters, well read, don't want to give much away, a definite binge listen.

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I love this series but….

The narrator for some reason started calling Selene Selain in this book and it annoyed me to no end! It’s like dude! You have it written in front of you as you read it and not only that you read the four previous books and called her Selene the whole time! If you can’t read, please rethink being a narrator! It irritated me so much as her name is said so often!

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